WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Black Friday Works 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:04.040 Hello everybody, it's me Josh, and to get you in 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:07.080 the holiday spirit, I've selected for this week's s Y 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:11.360 s K selects our episode on Black Friday, classic episode 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.720 uh that I'm hoping you'll enjoy because it's apparently the 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.680 most deadly time of the year. Get in the grinchy 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:22.000 spirit and listen to us basically demolish the most made 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:25.680 up sub holiday ever invented. It's as good as the 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:32.000 day it dropped. Enjoy. Welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:40.800 from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.280 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and with me as always 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:47.640 as Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Jerry's over there, and that 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:49.519 makes this stuff you should have. That's that you just 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.120 checked to make sure Jerry was there. She's very quiet. 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:55.200 You literally turned her head and body right. Yep, she's there. 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.160 I did the bigfoot thing like I had to turn 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.240 my whole the whole side of my body to look 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.280 over my shoulder. That's how you know that was real footage. Well, 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.399 typically when you know Jerry's here, because you can just 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:10.160 smell like me so soup or something emanating from our 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.600 right side or my right side, your right side but 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:16.600 it's not emanating from you, it's coming from Jerry. Yeah, 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.319 she stinks like me, so, which is actually a very 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:25.520 pleasant smell, salty and new mommy. That's right. Uh so, Chuck. Yes, 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:31.000 have you ever been to a Black Friday sale? No? No, 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:35.479 And I want to say, h no. Oh yeah, well, 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.160 I mean that's not for me. That's a decent qualifier though, 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:41.080 because it's it's not like an average sale, and like, 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.800 if you don't go to a Black Friday sale, uh, 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:48.400 it's they're a pretty good reason. Why is because you're scared. 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:50.920 Well yeah, and I think this is one of those 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:53.800 a very divisive topic. You're probably either really into going 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:56.760 or it's the last thing on earth you would rather do. 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:58.840 I don't know a lot of people are like, maybe 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.520 I'll go check out a doorbuster three am. I think 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.520 there are people who who do have that kind of 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:08.400 that idea, but maybe not at three am. Sure, there's 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.880 it's almost like a multifaceted creature like it is for 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.000 some people, like just in the middle of a normal 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:19.000 shopping day on the Friday after Thanksgiving, they'll go to 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.160 a store and it's fine and there's some sales or whatever, 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:25.120 But then you know hours earlier, these hardcore people you 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:27.160 know who would bathed in the blood or their fellow 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:31.840 shoppers sadly, yeah yeah, um had had already come through 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.000 and gotten all the best deals. But and then there's 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:37.720 those of us like us who are just like going out. 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.240 It is literally and I'm not overstating this because people 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.960 always say literally when they mean figurat figuratively, but is 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:45.399 literally one of the last things I would ever ever 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:47.440 do in my life. Yeah, I can't think of many. 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:49.640 I'd rather go to the d m V then go 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:54.119 to a doorbuster the d m V in between North 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:56.840 Korea and South Korea. No, no, no, no, that's the 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.760 d m Z right, Okay, I always get this. Who confused? Now, 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:04.080 I'd rather go take the last ticket from at the 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.960 d m V and have to wait all day than 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.440 go to a doorbuster sale. Yeah no, I don't blame you, 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.840 all right, So that's what we'll get to more hate 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.680 spewing about this layer, but right, and I should state 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:16.520 my opinion. I feel like, if this is your thing, 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:20.119 that's awesome. Well true, true, I'm not like cast dispurgence 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.600 on people who disparaging remarks. Is dispurgence a word no, 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.080 it is no though, Uh, you're like your own like 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.919 an American dictionary, the New Chuck Dictionary. We should make 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.440 that up. I like it. Yeah, you could have like 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:36.280 five or six words already, Chuck is um um, yeah, agreed. 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:38.720 I'm not saying like pooping people who do it. If 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:40.800 you're into it, great, as long as you conduct yourself 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.000 in a reasonable manner and you don't turn into a 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.520 monster like others do. Right, And but there is like 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:48.480 there are obvious criticisms of the day too, which we'll 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.680 get into. But I think first, Chuck, we should explain 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.400 what the as you would say, h we're talking about 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:57.680 to the people who listen to this podcast and don't 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.200 live in the United States, because Black Friday is pty 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.760 much a uniquely American experience. It is I think most 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:07.400 people probably know, but just very quickly. It is the 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.640 day after Thanksgiving now in the United States is known 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.080 as Black Friday, and we'll get into the pretty interesting 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.560 history of it. But um, it's the biggest shopping day 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.120 of the year. And there are all these crazy specials 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:20.080 that they run and we'll get into that as well, 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.599 but quite simply, it is the busiest shopping day of 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:26.600 the year day after Thanksgiving, right, and um, it's it's origins. Well, 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:30.039 the origin of the term black Friday goes back kind 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:35.240 of a ways, apparently to the the mid twentieth century, 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:38.599 but the idea of going shopping, starting your Christmas shopping 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:41.680 on the day after Thanksgiving actually goes back to the 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:46.320 late nineteenth century early twentieth century. Um, thanks to the 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:50.200 department stores like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and as 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:54.600 a part of those parades, accident Macy's Parade, right exactly, 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.360 you know, yeah, it's still a good parade though, Um, 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.280 have you ever been? No, I haven't, Yeah, ever been 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.000 to the parade, but a couple of times, Emily and 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:03.800 I've gone to the day before when they blow up 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.279 the which is really neat, very cool. You mean I 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.159 have a friend who's actually holding one of the floats 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:13.000 the balloons. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's fun to do. Although 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:16.240 we did it like eight or nine years ago and 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.000 it was it was really neat and sort of crowded, 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:20.479 and then we did it a couple of years ago 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:22.960 and it is nuts now, is it. It's yeah, it's 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:25.800 kind of gone overboard. The word got out. I think 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:29.840 I saw Yeah, I saw something last year in the news. Yeah. Yeah, 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.280 it's not a place to go if you don't like strollers. 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.560 Let's just say that. Oh yeah, oh yeah strollers with 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:38.800 all train entires. Ye. Um. So, but the the idea 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:42.160 of going starting your Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:45.720 came from those parades, and they came from those parades 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.480 because all of those parades, pretty much to a parade 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:52.400 featured Santa Claus. Yeah, and usually at the end kind 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.320 of like bringing up the rear, and that means we're 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.080 kicking it off. That's the official start of the holiday season. 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.440 That's right, Santa Claus has made his first public appearance. So. Um, 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:06.280 from the association of those two came going holiday shopping 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.839 the day after Thanksgiving. That was in the late nineteenth century, 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:14.800 in the fifties they think, or early sixties. Uh, well, 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.719 the fifties, calling the day after Thanksgiving Black Friday came about, 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:20.880 but it didn't necessarily have anything to do with shopping 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:24.279 by then. It was from factory owners who apparently coined 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:28.039 the term. Yeah, and there's also the other competing theory 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:31.400 that it was the day that uh stores would go 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.240 into the black meaning start to show profit. But Um, 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.719 that's not quite right as it. No, so that's actually 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.760 a well, it's a made up fallacy to gloss over 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.520 the original meaning of black Friday. Um. And it came 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.000 out of Philadelphia in the sixties, and the cops and 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:52.040 the bus drivers and the city workers who worked downtown 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:56.719 came up with calling that day black Friday because apparently 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:59.480 tons of out of towners would leave their homes on 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:03.599 Thanksgive converge on Philadelphia to watch the Army Navy games 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:06.240 on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but they had a day 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:08.600 to kill, so they all started doing their Christmas shopping 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.200 because there were sales in downtown Philly every year and 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:15.320 the place would be nuts. Uh. And this was where 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:19.200 black Friday came from. Apparently the police department wanted to 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.600 basically keep people away, so they'd be like, well, you 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.520 don't want to go to downtown Philly, it's black Friday. 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:28.640 And uh. That was the original um reason or origin 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.840 of the term. Yeah, I see you saw in here 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.080 article from the AP in nineteen five, a sales manager 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:38.120 at Gimbal's UM was quoted as saying, that's why bus 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:41.680 drivers and cab drivers call today black Friday. Uh. They 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.160 think in terms of the headaches that it gives them. 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.640 So I learned something new when I read this. Yeah, 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:49.840 and then had no idea it spread out of Philly. 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:54.360 And then years later the retail lobbies and retailers themselves said, 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:56.920 we got to come up with a better, a better 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:00.120 origin story for this, because we want this to be 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:01.640 a day that people want to get out of their 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:03.680 house and go shopping. You know. But we should point 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.560 out even though it is not the day that companies 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:08.960 go into the black as it were, which, by the way, 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.320 it comes from when they did accounting by hand, you'd 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.480 write in red ink or black ink, depending on you 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.080 were ahead with money or behind red ink. Men you 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.680 were in the hole. Yeah, black man, everything's good exactly, 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.800 even though it does not mean that. Um. The holiday 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:26.120 shopping season is when stores make up between twenty and 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.840 of their retail profits. So it's a lot. Yeah. I 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:34.160 mean even emily small business like the I don't know 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.920 about majority, but a large percentage of her yearly sales 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:39.439 or you know, a couple of months, you know. Uh, 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:43.600 and it's not just her apparently. Um. In two thousand thirteen, 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:49.520 the National Retail Federation is predicting that Americans just in 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:51.880 November and December, Chuck, are you ready for this? Yeah, 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.880 Americans are going to spend six d and two billion 0:08:56.240 --> 0:09:00.360 dollars in November and December. That's cray, that's a lot 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.400 of cash. Yeah, in two months. Yeah. I don't spend 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:09.199 like I used to on Christmas. Um. Emily and I 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:13.160 sometimes will spend on gifts on each other or do 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:15.400 that like a couple things where you like, go in 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.320 and just do something nice for your house. Uh. And 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.079 then like the adults on my side of the family, 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:24.160 you don't exchange gifts anymore. Um just dirty looks. Yeah, 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.640 exchange like my brother, my sister will chip in usually 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.920 and get my mom something kind of nice or give 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:35.079 her offer her a service, like last year we replaced 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:39.160 her fireplace with like a gas fireplace, or build her 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.120 a garden fence, or tile her kitchen like something like that. 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:45.040 Why got it? Yeah, she's an easy street is what 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.600 you call that. But Emily's family that they all still 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:52.319 exchange gifts. I still have my Christmas gift swapping Joan satisfied. 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:59.000 You know, yes, you get your Christmas present on Yeah okay, 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:04.800 Chuck so um. The the the idea of shopping after Thanksgiving 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:07.720 and then Black Friday. That day being called Black Friday. 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:09.880 It's been around for a while, um, and it's a 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:14.320 really valuable day, you know, it kicks off that two 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:16.760 month period where six billion dollars is going to be 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:21.640 spent on stuff. But it was created, like Valentine's Day, 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:23.960 it was literally created, and then the myth kind of 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:28.200 became reality just because they said everyone's gonna shop to day. 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.400 It's the busiest day, and it became that. Yeah, it 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:35.559 wasn't until two thousand four. Usually the Saturday before Christmas 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.400 was actually the busiest shopping day of the year thanks 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.720 to me. But the Retail Federation and all the retailers 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.560 were like, well, we can't just we can't tout that 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:47.280 is the busiest shopping day of the year. We want 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:49.679 to like get people spending over the course of a 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.400 couple of months, not the Saturday before Christmas. So they 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:57.760 basically said Black Fridays the day, and it's, like you said, 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:00.200 it just kind of became true just from people's saying 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.720 it over time. I'm surprised that they haven't come up 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:08.480 with a catchy name for like Procrastinator's Day or something 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.520 to like pump up that last Saturday again or something right, 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:13.240 or to keep you from it, so they call it 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.840 like Shame of the Nation Day something like that, to 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:22.240 make you like go go to Black Friday Saturday. Yeah. Um, so, 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:27.320 and there's this website called, um, Black Friday Archive dot com. 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.400 It's actually like kind of cool if you like nostalgic 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.120 ads or whatever, nostalgia going back to two thousand and seven, 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:36.000 I should say, but it's just like scans of Black 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.720 Friday print ads from those years, which you're kind of neat. 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:41.720 If you're totally bored out of your mind, go check 0:11:41.720 --> 0:12:04.559 out Black Friday Archive dot com. So Black Friday became 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:07.440 a smashing success, like two thousand and four, two five. 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.960 It's a relatively recent thing that it became what it 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.280 is today here in the States, which is an out 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:19.520 of controlled juggernaut shopping and consumeristic frenzy. Right. Um, But 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:25.959 so it was so successful overnight that um, the retailer said, well, 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:29.000 let's figure out ways to extend this whole week. So 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.640 they came up with cyber Monday in two thousand five. Yeah, 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:35.520 that's pretty recent, and it uh is the online shopping 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:40.080 version of Black Friday. Uh, the Monday after Thanksgiving and 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.840 that was another thing. They just made up another self 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.960 fulfilling myth that Um they said, that's the the workers 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.880 go back to their computer after Thanksgiving on Monday and 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.320 they do all their online shopping. Well, that wasn't really true, 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.760 but now it is because the retailer said it was 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.360 in the media reported it. Uh. And not to be outdone. 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:03.360 In two thousand ten, American Express invented Small Business Saturday, 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:05.800 which is when you go out and support small businesses 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:10.400 with your money, especially ones that take American Express exactly. Uh. 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.560 So there's it's interesting. They're literally creating days to tell 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.920 people basically, if you're not shopping a day, you're missing 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:22.360 out on really good deals, right exactly. Um. And the 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:27.160 more days the better as far as retailers are concerned. Um. 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:31.720 But there's only so many days after Thanksgiving. So they 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.360 started to think recently like, well, what if we pushed 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.760 in the other direction rather from Friday on what's behind Friday? 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.320 Oh yeah, Thanksgiving? We can't touch that for shame. Well, 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.760 starting in two thousand and twelve, they started touching it. 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:50.000 Walmart actually um opened at eight pm on Thanksgiving in 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:53.000 two thousand twelve. Um, and there was there was a 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.520 general strike called that we'll talk about later because of that. 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:00.559 Because these stores are not supposed to be open on Thanksgiving. 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:02.960 Thanksgiving is its own day. It's a day of being 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:07.120 with family and celebrating and giving. Up until two thousand 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.360 and twelve, it was Sacra Sanc. Yeah, this year, Macy's 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:12.160 and J. C. Penny for the first time are opening 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.480 on Thanksgiving, and Sears and Toys are us as well 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:20.440 Thanksgiving evening. Uh. And Kmart is opening at six am 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:27.160 on Thanksgiving, basically extending Black Friday through the weekend forty 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.360 one hours. That's not a day. That's how long Kmart 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:32.520 is going to be open. Black Friday at Kmart last 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:36.480 forty one hours. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Uh. And at 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:40.000 shopping malls, um, you're gonna have some smaller stores doing 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:44.080 the same thing. And estimated will be open at eight 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:47.920 pm on Thanksgiving Day and two thirds will open at midnight. 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:54.520 So essentially what's happening is Thanksgiving evening is being ruined 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:00.240 by retail you know. Yeah, I think the retailers would say, well, 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.400 you know, we've seen that people, right, We've seen that 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:08.040 people start lining up Thanksgiving afternoon, Thanksgiving evening to wait 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.680 for us to open like that, you know, the next morning, 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:13.880 so why don't we just open? So, I mean I 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:15.960 think it's kind of um, it goes both ways, but 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:19.200 I pretty much see where you're coming from. Yeah. Well, 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:22.040 this year it's a little trickier too, because Thanksgiving comes 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.440 on November twenty eight, which is the latest has been 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:31.960 in eleven years. Yeah, is that right? Uh? Yeah, so 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:37.120 weirdly because they still sort of have to enforce Black Friday, 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.160 they're actually shortening their own shopping season a little bit 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:41.840 this year, right, which is probably why some of them 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.720 are opening on Thanksgiving. That's exactly why it's it's six 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:49.520 days shorter than usual this year. Um. So just by 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:52.840 the very existence by making up Black Friday, they've screwed 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.360 themselves this year a little bit. They have a week yeah, 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.760 because there's um in other countries like Canada, the UK, 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:04.160 the Netherlands, countries, um that that observe the Christmas holidays 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.520 like we do in America, meaning everybody gives everybody else 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.880 presents and things like that, and they spend money. Um, 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:14.120 but those countries don't have a Black Friday, a day 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:18.280 that officially kicks off the holiday shopping season. Um, those 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:22.000 countries spend more over the course of the holiday season 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.800 because they have a longer period of time to shop. Um, 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:30.560 so without Black Friday in America, the retailers would possibly 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.120 make more money. So they've definitely painted themselves into a 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:35.920 corner by making Black Friday such a thing. And this 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.640 year it's really kind of pointing out, like we may 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:40.760 be shooting ourselves in the foot here, so what can 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.360 we do well. Their solution has been, well, we'll just 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.560 take over Thanksgiving to but that's not necessarily sustainable, and 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:48.480 there's a lot of people who are saying Black Friday 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:50.360 is going to go the way of the dinosaur. Yeah. 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.000 I read an interesting article in the New Yorker this 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:55.960 morning finance article. I think it was New Yorker, it 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.760 might have been New York Times, but um, this financial 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.520 analyst was basically analyzed sing how the sales go and 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:07.040 sort of saying that it's really not financially the smartest 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:11.440 approach to take for shoppers or the for the retailers 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:14.520 to offer these huge, deep discounts and sort of blow 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.159 it out in one day. A better, smarter financial approach 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.720 would be to elongate the seas shopping season at a 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.640 and not even discount things, maybe even raise prices. And 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.040 his contention is that they're shooting themselves in the foot. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.560 But um, I think he's right. He probably is. But 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:34.200 at the same time, if you were one of those 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:39.119 people like um, like me frankly who went to the 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:43.520 mall the day after Halloween and saw that the lights 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.080 were up, the garland was out, Santa's workshop was ready 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:49.919 to go like Halloween, the November one, the place was 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:53.840 totally decked out for Christmas with Christmas Carol's piping through. Yeah, 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.919 see that's that's ridiculous. But see without but that was 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.240 the great thing about Black Fight. It's like you, you know, 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:01.120 you had a month they're just kind of chilling out 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.600 everything getting ready between between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Then you 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.280 had Thanksgiving and in the holiday season started without Black Friday. 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:12.480 It's kind of like this, um this damn that's holding 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:18.760 back the holiday season from spilling into basically October. But 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.800 with retailers figuring out that it's an impedence to them 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:26.520 making money, it probably won't start the official season any longer. 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.240 It'll probably be further back from now on. Yeah, well, 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.960 I think we're in I don't know about well, technically 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:37.240 slightly in the minority. Um. In two thousand, thirteen of 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.800 the population of American adults said they will shop on 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.359 Black Friday. So fifty three, Yeah, that puts us in 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:46.040 the minority by a bit. And two thousand eleven a 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:50.960 hundred and fifty two Americans, uh millions, just a hundred, 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:55.000 but they spent five hundred billion dollars. Yeah, hundred fifty 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:58.399 two really rich Americans. Uh, A hundred fifty two million 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.919 shopped on that day for an average of three hours 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:06.480 at a time, which is uh not too long, but 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:10.919 that's I mean, three hours is like ever. But I 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:14.280 saw a woman who did sixteen though, like a sixteen 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.200 hour stretch of shopping. She better have gotten it all 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:20.840 done at least, I hope. So you know, yeah, like 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:22.879 if she's shop for sixteen hours and only got like 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:26.760 three gifts, it's not time amost spent. Um. There's also evidence, 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:30.800 uh that the internet is basically knocking on Black Friday's door. 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:35.840 Thanksgiving days the fastest growing online shopping day. UM. And 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.320 I think like se of the people who said that 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:40.239 they're going to shop on Black Friday said they'll do 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:44.840 some or most of it online. Um. So the Internet 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.159 is still there for retailers to make money, but the 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:52.399 idea of Black Friday in store sales going extinct is 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:56.680 probably not going to happen because it's its own thing. 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:01.240 Like there's this one consumer psychologist or consumer analysts I 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.600 think pointed out that it's it's a tradition number one 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:08.119 nowadays uh and number two, there's a certain element of 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:12.199 like sport to it. It's it's more than just getting 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:15.879 a good deal. It's like, you know, throwing a fist 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:18.320 at somebody while you get a good dealers something to 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:21.679 it that that transcends the whole thing. So we mentioned 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:25.000 door Busters. It's a central part of the cog that 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:28.840 is Black Friday, and it goes back in print, believe 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:32.760 it or not, to the year nineteen seventeen in anecdotally, 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:37.240 where in a retailer will basically say, you know what, 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.640 we have one item or usually it's a few now, 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:44.280 but some really deep, deep and really super great deals 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.200 on just a few select items, so like, for example, 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:51.359 a good laptop for a hundred and eighty dollars, and 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:54.800 like deals like that iPods for half off, for a 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.160 TV for like two really really like you said, very 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:02.479 good discounts. But here's the deal. It's a scam people, 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:05.480 it's a bait and switch. It's it's a bait and switch. 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.240 They they've only got a very limited amount of these 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:12.040 select items, which is why the violence happens, which we'll 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:14.119 get to in a minute. Uh. And then after that 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.640 they're hoping you get in there. You don't get that laptop, 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:20.760 but you're like, screw it. I'm at Walmart at five am. 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:23.760 I might as well buy some stuff regular priced or 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:28.560 slightly discounted items. Um. And you know that's how they 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:30.199 get you in the store. That's how they get you. 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:33.440 It is, um, and it is It's true that there 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.720 these items do exist, and they are for that deal. 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:41.040 There there there for that price, I should say, Um, 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:43.840 but there's only like ten and in the fine print 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:47.320 it's like one person and that deals is for in 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:49.320 stock only, like you can't get a rain check or 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:52.760 anything like that. But the the concept that these deals 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:55.080 do exist for those items that are in the store, 0:21:55.800 --> 0:22:00.359 coupled with whoever physically gets their hands on that item 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:05.639 first gets that deal. Yeah, um, leads to doors actually 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:10.119 being busted. It's called recipe for disaster. Yeah. Um. All right, 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:13.280 So before we get to the dark days and the 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:15.760 bad stuff that can happen. Truly, let's do a little 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:28.439 message break. All right, let's go back a little bit 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:31.879 to two thousand eight and probably the well I was 0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:34.200 gonna say the darkest incident, but I think the Toys 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:36.399 r US may be darker. I think this one's darker 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:39.159 because people were involved. Yeah, that's true, all right. Two 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:43.080 thousand eight and Valley Stream, Long Island. Uh it was 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:48.320 at a Walmart and it was five pm on Thanksgiving. Um, 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:52.000 so basically people there the day before. Um it wasn't 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:53.760 one of those days where it was open on Thanksgiving. 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:56.560 So they're there to wait until five am. So at 0:22:56.640 --> 0:22:58.800 least twelve hours ahead of time, there were about a 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:02.560 thousand people already set up there. Some people are camping 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:05.440 out intents, they're waiting, They got their coffee, they're probably 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:10.160 slugging some jim Beam to warm the belly. And uh 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:11.600 so the police came out and said, you know what, 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:15.399